This is a list of Latvian players currently without information on a contract for the upcoming season. At the moment this list includes 127 players who spent their previous season abroad (top 3 tiers of local championship or U17+ junior leagues) or played either for Dinamo Riga or Metalurgs Liepaja.

I would also appreciate any updates or corrections at the comments section below.

(written by Ivars Zvirgzdiņš and originally published on Sportacentrs.com)

Shortly before the start of the 2012/13 season, Latvian hockey federation has published calendar for the upcoming season of the Latvian league. After a thorough exploration, myself being a mundane Latvian hockey follower, I was struck with dozens of questions and thoughts regarding the current state of Latvian hockey.

The first and most important question is in whose interests was the new calendar created. Much time isn’t needed to find an answer to it – already last year both Prizma Riga and Juniors Riga had problems with starting both in MHL B and Latvian league. Several of Juniors Riga games were rescheduled and there were others problems with Juniors’ participation in the league as well. For example, the federation seemed to not notice Juniors Riga decision of ignoring a few regular season games versus Lithuanian Energija Elektrenai, despite the fact that the club didn’t have MHL B games at that time. In the upcoming season Metalurgs Liepaja-2 will become already the third club that will play in both MHL B and Latvian league.

But let’s return our attention to the calendar of the next season! First of all, this year there will be eight teams participating in the league (there were 10 teams last year). This season SK LSPA/Riga has decided to drop out of the tournament and at this point also Energija Elektrenai isn’t among the competitors of the league.

Only eight teams participating in the tournament is nothing new or tragic, as the league has experienced already several such seasons in the past. The unfortunate part of the story begins, when we count the number of games each team will play – there are going to be a total of 112 regular seasons games, meaning only 28 matches for each of the teams. Also the playoff stage will start only with the semifinals (instead of six teams fighting for the title in the previous years). For a comparison, the newly established Latvian Enthusiast league (an amateur one) each team is planned to have 19 games and playoffs starting from the quarterfinal stage. Continuing our comparison, both EBEL and Belarusian league has more than 50 games in their regular season.

The motivation of decreasing the game pressure on the three teams participating in MHL B is apparent, but immediately another question arises – does the effort of growing our upcoming junior generation in the Russian hockey system leave the other Latvian players, who are already past their junior age, without a chance of playing a proper amount of games during the season? We have plenty of examples of players showing what they are really capable of when they have already reached 25 years or even older. There must be certain circumstances under which such players could develop, and one of them is a chance of playing a decent number of games. Could 28 games per season be considered a decent number or do we once again have to rely on Russia or some other European country on the development of Latvian players?

The number of Latvian hockey talents is far from being rich, thus we have to be able of acknowledging them and offering them a chance of proper development. Still, we also have to point out that a notable proportion of the younger players don’t even wait until they reach 20 years and become useless to the Latvian hockey scene – many players opt to play abroad starting from a very early age. Who can even estimate how many talented players Latvian hockey has lost in such a way?

Returning to the issue of the participation of the Lithuanian team Energija Elektrenai, we must conclude that there is no consensus reached yet, as clearly it is a clash of two different interest groups. Already prior the previous season team’s participation in the league wasn’t clear until the very last minute, and the situation seems to be same now as well. Although Latvian federation hasn’t confirmed Energija’s participation, in Lithuanian press the executive members of the team are telling about team’s intentions of renovating the Elektrenai ice rink and club’s readiness of competing in the Latvian league. It seems that, in the name of the three teams participating in MHL B, Latvian federation is ready to give up our years long cooperation with the Lithuanian team. It is quite odd, as Latvian federation expects a helpful hand from other countries, yet we are not willing to help the development of hockey in other countries.

To sum up, there is only one real conclusion – dear Mr. Lipmans (head of Latvian federation) and the owners of the Latvian teams, perhaps the time has come to cease imitating activity and start working on the development of the league? A development, whose aim would be clear to the Latvian hockey fans and most likely to the Latvian hockey federation as well.

If during the past season five Latvian players played for Kazakh club Beibarys Atyrau, this season the number of Latvian players in the Kazakh league will certainly grow.

As of now, both Martins Raitums and Andrejs Smirnovs have signed new contracts with Beibarys Atyrau and will stay with the club also for this season. Let me just remind you that Raitums had a tremendous season with Beibarys last year and at the end of the season received the best goaltender award. Similarly to last season, also this year Beibarys is holding its camp in Latvia, so, as a result, the number of Latvian players there is rumoured to be as high as 7 players (including ex-Metalurgs Liepaja players Valerijs Filimonovs and Maris Gravitis).

Four other Latvian players are currently rumoured to have a try-out contract with Kazakh clubs as well. Forwards Edijs Brahmanis and Vladimirs Mamonovs are said to be in the Sary-Arka Karaganda camp in Italy, while defensemen Edmunds Kniksts and Sergejs Tjoluskins are both fighting for a place on Arlan Kokshetau roster.

Notably, six ex-Metalurgs Liepaja players currently have try-out contracts with Kazakh league clubs. The main reason behind that is the tough financial situation of the Latvian club. Just after the previous season club even announced that it might lack finances, in order to compete in the Belarussian Extraleague. Currently the team’s average age is under 21 and during its first pre-season exhibition games it has lost to Kazakh VHL club Kazzinc-Torpedo twice (1:4 and 0:2).

Latvian hockey players forward Vitalijs Hvorostinins and defender Ricards Birzins have left their clubs and returned to Latvia. While Hvorostinins played for the Val-d’Ior Foreurs of the QMJHL, Birzins spent the larger part of the season with Beibarys Atyrau of the Kazakh league.

18-year-old Hvorostinins who was picked this summer by Foreurs during the 2010 CHL Import Draft has returned to Latvia, rejoining DHK Latgale of the Latvian league, and playing already his first game with the club. Hvorostinins already played for DHK Latgale last season. For a longer period of time Hvorostinins was injured, managing to play only three games for the Val-d’Ior Foreurs, however he did not manage to earn a single point.

In the same time, defender Ricards Birzins has decided to leave Beibarys Atyrau. As of mid-December (latest statistics I got hold of) Birzins had been dressed only for 10 out of 30 games played at that moment. The lack of trust from the coaching staff must have been the main reason why Birzins has left the club. Ricards has now returned to Riga. As January 31 which is the trade deadline for majority of leagues in Europe is drawing closer and closer, hopefully Ricards will manage to find a new club.

Latvian goaltender Martins Raitums who plays for the Beibarys Atyrau and is a candidate for the Latvian national team World championship roster is currently leading the Kazakh league regarding both the goals against average and save percentage.

Kazakh media also note that the coaching staff of Ertis Pavlodar must be biting their elbows, as in the past summer the first rumours told that Raitums is about to join Ertis, however the club chose to sign Slovakian Stanislav Petrik instead. Petrik is not among the leading goalkeepers in the league. With the back-up goalie in the form of Ukrainian national team player Vadim Seliverstov, Beibarys goalie line is considered to be the best in the league.

Currently Raitums has played 20 games, helping the team to win in 15 of them, and posting a goals against average of 1.68 pucks. Raitums has also reflected 93.43 percent of the shots and had two shutouts.